Progressive Maryland Weekend Reader Nov. 19

Time to tear ourselves away from obsessing about the national election and refocus, of course, on Maryland. The anatomy of the state and its voters as shown by election results are analyzed; prospects for the dominant but shaky Democrats in the Free State, and, well, a look at urban areas as sites of resistance and the January inaugural festivities as protest locale...

The return of the Progressive Maryland Weekend Reader. The temptation, of course, is to keep ruminating about the national election, but the argument that progressive resistance to worst-case scenarios has to start at the local and state level leads us to think about Maryland and what needs to be done.

The crack student reporters and editors at UMCP’s Capital News Service look over the state’s increasing polarization as reflected in Nov. 8 results. Sure, the state went overwhelmingly Democratic in the presidential race, as expected, but “the state’s liberal base didn’t perform according to expectations.” And red counties – which vastly outnumber the blue ones, but not in population – are becoming redder. http://marylandreporter.com/2016/11/09/maryland-grows-more-politically-polarized-like-rest-of-u-s/

And then there’s the January event, the Inauguration, which is beginning to look more like a celebration of the resistance to the incoming, er, President. None of these people, we might guess, will be staying at Trump’s hotel downtown (it may be tied up in a lawsuit anyway). So we progressives in the region might want to start planning on being welcoming hosts for the people who, like us, are ready to resist. http://portside.org/2016-11-19/gathering-storm-protest-against-trump